Kirine and Saija have been wonderful to me.
They offered their help in finding my love and his companions. I was, at first, unsure if that was a good idea, but these two women were born and raised here. They know this land better than any other and if anyone could help me, I knew it would be them.
They took me south, to an outpost of dwarves living in a fort of sculpted stone. There, we stopped for a while and learned that those I sought had passed through there, to the north-west. We travelled onwards throughout the day, entering a vast plain of naught but snow as far as the eye could see. Breathtaking in its own way, it was nevertheless barren, eerie and unbelievably cold!
I had thought that the other parts of this snowy land were freezing, but out there there is nothing to break the wind. It whistles across the ice like a mournful widow and cuts into ones flesh and bone like a million sharp icicles. Even through the thick furs the Lossoth of Pynti-Peldot had traded me, I was still chilled to the core.
Kirri told me that Talvi-Muri is a hunting ground. The worms that slither their way through this area are sought after for their hard scales and skeletons. They wondered if it was for those worms that my love had passed this way. We reached a camp far in the north. There, I waited and warmed my benumbed body whilst they went to seek signs of passing.
Kirri returned some time later, nervous and out of breath. Our quarry had been sighted! Kirri had come back to tell me whilst Saija had gone after them. Forgetting my cold and weariness at such joyous news, I ran as fast as I could through the thick white powder in the hopes of being fast enough to catch them up.
It was not to be, though. My love and his companions had threatened Saija and fled into the growing darkness. I wanted to go after them, but Saija and Kirri convinced me that to do so was folly; I would freeze to death in the low temperatures before mornings light. Reluctantly, I went back to the camp with the two women and prayed to their Vesi-henka that my love would be wise enough to come back here for the warmth.
By morning, there was no sign. Kirri and Saija just wanted to go home, but they kindly agreed to help me with one last search before we gave up. I shouted myself hoarse, wishing against all odds that they would hear me, that they would call back. Not once did the sound of his voice come to my ears, though and with each passing step my heart sunk a little lower within my breast.
I did not want to give up. I wanted to go back out there, to keep searching, to find them even if it was their frozen corpses. I tried so hard to believe that the night had not taken him from me, but Saija knew better... and so did I.
What use would I have been to them anyway? What help could I give them?
I am returned to Pynti-Peldot now. I will rest here for the night and then, with only my grief for company, I shall make my way home.
